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First Posted on Inside Mindanao (www.insidemindanao.com) on November 18, 2008
Sumilao farmers join campaign vs aerial spray
By Ellen Red
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—The Sumilao farmers of Bukidnon yesterday joined the farmers from Davao City in a protest march around the city against the inaction of the Court of Appeals over the case that halted the implementation of the ordinance banning the aerial spraying in banana plantations.
The Sumilao farmers made headlines when they walked their way from Bukidnon to Malacañang to fight over ownership of a property in Sumilao.
For the past eight days, 19 farmers from Davao City have camped outside the Court of Appeals building as a sign of their frustrations over the snail–paced resolution of the Court of Appeals on the aerial spray case.
The march around the city was dubbed Baklay sa Kinaiyahan, Baklay sa Kinabuhi (Environment March, Life March).
Yoyong Merida, chair of the San Vicente Landless Farmers Association (SALFA), said they support the cause of the group opposing aerial spraying because "we know how it feels to be victims of human rights abuses."
"It is time for the people to rise up against those who violate our rights. We are showing our support to them and are registering our protest against multinational companies which continue to block the implementation of the aerial spraying ordinance of Davao City," Merida said.
He said the struggle does not only concern the welfare of Davao City but "it speaks volume of how can multinational companies like the owners of these banana plantations can play with the law to favor their interest which is all but greed for profit and power—at the expense of the poor."
As there is also an aerial spraying ban in the banana plantations of Bukidnon province, Merida is fearful of the impact that the Davao City case might leave to the Bukidnon ban.
"Thousands of hectares of lands, many of which are ancestral lands, have been cleared to give way to banana plantations. If the banana plantations would triumph over the Davao City ordinance, the Bukidnon ban would also be in danger of being overturned. We don't want to be sprayed," Merida said.
Together with the Davao City farmers, the Sumilao farmers announced that they will camp outside the Court of Appeals building for at least a week.
Traquilina Alibangon, a farmer from barangay Wangan, Calinan District, Davao City said, "Dili mi mouli kung dili namo bitbit and decision sa korte (We will not go home, unless the court [Court of Appeals 22nd Division] renders a decision)."
She said that the Court of Appeals decision is long overdue, citing a Supreme Court resolution. Ms. Alibangon and other protesters claimed that based on the Supreme Court resolution, the aerial spray case should have been decided by the Court of Appeals on or before July 28, 2008.
Just as the farmers trooped to the Court of Appeals office, a Supreme Court document was released to the farmers. Dated August 5, 2008, the Supreme Court document granted the Court of Appeals 22nd Division an extension of six months (from July 25, 2008) to resolve the aerial spray case.
AERIAL SPRAY CASE TIMELINE
The City Government of Davao passed last year an ordinance which bans the use of aerial spray.
The passage of Davao City aerial spraying ordinance took the Davao lawmakers three years because of the intense debate between the groups that backed the passage of the ordinance and banana plantation owners.
The plantation companies, under the umbrella of Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association (PBGEA), challenged the validity and constitutionality of the ordinance by filing a case against the City Government to stop its implementation. The Regional Trial Court ruled in favor of the ordinance.
On October 18, 2007, PBGEA filed an Urgent Motion for the Issuance of a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) and/or a Writ of Preliminary Injunction before the Court of Appeals.
On November 26, 2007, airplanes resumed aerial spraying after the 22nd Court of Appeals Division issued a 60–day TRO and the subsequent Writ of Preliminary Injunction on the aerial spraying ban ordinance.
PBGEA alleged in its urgent motion before the Court of Appeals that the ban on aerial spraying would make their bananas susceptible to the Black Sigatoka disease. The motion, which was submitted to the Court of Appeals last October 18, says that "considering the extreme contagious nature of Black Sigatoka disease, by the time that the Honorable Court resolves the instant appeal on the merits and by the time the appellants are able to mount even a minimal capacity to spray manually, the entire banana plantation would have already been devastated by the Black Sigatoka disease."
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